Gorden U.S. Pat. No. 1,388,035 shows a locking device for the gearshift lever of an automobile. The device comprises basically a sleeve adapted to be securely fastened to the gear lever , a pivotal arm or latching member adapted to be received in a keeper socket away from the gear lever, and a lock for locking the arm in the socket to hold the lever against the movement at the neutral position for the anti-theft purpose. The device is a relatively simple and straight forward structure, which appears seemingly effective and easy in operation according to Gorden's description. But in practices, this device has serious deficiencies. First, because the socket is an independent structure from the locking device, it must be attached firmly to somewhere else in the body away from the lever. Additional labor is therefore required for the installation as well as holes or punctures must be made onto the body of the vehicle. This may be very difficult for the owner of the vehicle to accept. Secondly, the far reaching distances between the arm, the keeper socket and the lever creates a very large gap which allows foreign matters to be inserted therein and pry the corresponding structure. Thirdly, the insertion of the terminal of the latching arm to the keeper socket is through a pivotal motion of the arm while both the socket and the sleeve are held stationary. In this respect, the socket provides no resistance for the terminal to pivotally move in, therefore, it will not provide any resistance for same to pivotally move out, other conditions unchanged. The only mechanism to keep the terminal in the socket against pivotal movement is the tumbler at the far and hinge end of the arm and this can be easily overcome by prying with a cross bar or any foreign matter at the terminal end of the arm. Once this terminal is pryed out of the socket, the entire anti-theft functioning of this device is defeated.
I have found that the above deficiencies of Gorden's teaching can be overcome by eliminating the socket structure as the receiving vehicle, employing the existing slot opening for this purpose and by replacing the straight latching arm with a L-shaped latching member matching in size and shape of same slot which can be lowered and conceived therein to perform the anti-theft function. The positioning of the lever is also changed from the "neutral" to the "park" position in order to accomodate these modifications. These and other improvements of the structure will become apparent following the specifications and drawings of this application for patent.